posted on Oct, 26 2010 @ 07:51 PM
This is a list of books and authors, some of which I have read in their entirety, others partially, and others I have only looked into but intend to
read soon. Please feel free to comment or ask questions.
I'm not going to bother listing the classics like Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, Lenin, etc., their significance is implied.
Asterisked entries are very highly recommended. Double question mark denotes that I am curious about these books and would appreciate anyone's
input.
Political and Economic Theory
**Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Alternatively, The Essential Gandhi)
The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Capitalist Manifesto by Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler
The Neo-Communist Manifesto by Filip Spagnoli
**The Unabomber Manifesto by Ted Kaczynski
Global Capitalism and the Demise of the Left: Renewing Radicalism Through Inclusive Democracy (collection of high level political science essays)
edited by Steve Best
??The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer
??The End of The Free Market by Ian Bremmer
??The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
**Small is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Super Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
**The Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System by Ellen Hodgson Brown
Confessions of Economic Hitman by John Perkins
**The Secret History of American Empire by John Perkins
??When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences by Eric Alterman
The Impact of Science on Society by Bertrand Russel
Political Ideals by Bertrand Russell
**You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train by Howard Zinn
**A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
??Noam Chomsky (I personally haven't read much of his work yet, you might start with Powers and Prospects, Necessary Illusions, or Hegemony or
Survival)
??Ivan Illich (Too many to list, you might start with Deschooling Society)
??The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School by Neil Postman
Dystopian Novels
**Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
**1984 by George Orwell
**Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (to be honest you're probably better off reading the wikipedia page on Objectivism)
Non-political material that has nonetheless influenced my political ideology.
John Nash's Equilibriums in Game Theory. Despite the subject of his famous thesis being "Non-Cooperative Games", his work showed the rational,
measurable benefits of compromise and cooperation. Since his ground-breaking work Game Theory has been applied in biology, anthropology, economics,
sociology, psychology, politics, chemistry, physics, etc.
The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism by Robert L. Trivers. Paper on the biological usefulness of cooperation.
The Problem of Increasing Human Energy by Nikola Tesla
Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment. An enormous collection of raw environmental/demographic science done in 1977 with logical conclusions
drawn about the direction civilization is headed.
As a side note I feel that the environment, resources, and population are extremely important political issues and although no books are coming to
mind let me turn your attention toward some excellent documentaries.
Collapse
Life According to Monsanto
The Disappearing Male
Addicted to Plastic
Flow - For the Love of Water
I believe all can be found at www.documentaryheaven.com
Finally, some very influential (on me) non-political novels.
Short Stories of Isaac Asimov
Siddartha by Herman Hesse
Wow this post is enormous.